


An After School Detention

by RainbowMango



Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz
Genre: Detentions, Explosions, Gen, School
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-07-20
Updated: 2012-07-20
Packaged: 2017-11-10 08:25:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/464224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainbowMango/pseuds/RainbowMango
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex being given an after school detention?  Bad, but manageable.  Alex being given an after school detention by K-Unit? That's just asking for trouble.  Mix in some SCORPIA and you've got more trouble than you could possibly imagine!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

On a twelve lane motorway, one so busy that traffic has ground to a halt, making it effectively a car park, commuters may have heard the faint drone of a helicopter passing overhead. If they'd bothered to look up they might have seen a small black splodge in the sky.

But this was London. Those on the highway were too busy concerning themselves over whether the traffic jam was going to clear than to pay any attention to the seemingly insignificant black splodge throbbing above them. In fact, that black splodge of a helicopter had greater significance than they could have imagined. It was ferrying the last board-member of SCORPIA to arrive in London for a special meeting concerning Alex Rider and SCORPIA's first two major failures.

Within five minutes, the black helicopter had left the grey of suburbia and started passing over rolling, emerald green hills. Nestled among the lush greenery was a palace-like mansion. The building was staggeringly huge. It was all one storey but it covered a colossal amount of land. There were no other buildings in sight.  
The helicopter landed neatly on the patch to the east of the building. As the propellers were slowing, a Japanese man, who had a diamond embedded into one of his front teeth, hopped out and strode over to a control console by the mansion wall, pushing the blue button.  
At the touch of the button, the square of grass the Japanese man was standing on descended gently, transporting him into the room below.  
In this underground room, there was a long conference table surrounded by large leather spin chairs.

Six of those chairs were occupied by people who had congregated from various different parts of the world.  
As the square of floor reached the bottom, only two people glanced up. The rest just sat motionless, their impatience showing clearly on their otherwise impassive faces. The Japanese man stepped off the square, which rose back to the ceiling on a metal pole, and took his seat next to a man known to SCORPIA only as the Australian.  
The meeting had begun.

During the meeting, the members of SCORPIA each expressed their thoughts on the losses of Major Yu and Julia Rothman and their damaged reputation. It was agreed that for their new operation, the executive board members of SCORPIA would share leadership because of the magnitude of the operation. If they succeeded, SCORPIA would have gained revenge on Alex Rider and most likely destroyed the British government. But it was no longer a question of 'if'. They would succeed.

At the conclusion of the meeting, all of the SCORPIA members rose and left, except for the Australian who owned the mansion under the false name of Robert Liley.  
The Japanese man went back up the floor lift and into his helicopter, which had started up when the meeting was declared over, and flew off into the night.

Later, when the Japanese man returned to the hubbub of London, he went to make enquiries for car parts at 'Cars In Appliance'.


	2. Chapter 2

My eyes fly open as I wake up, and the first thing I do is glance at my alarm clock. It's 6:27am, only a few minutes until the alarm is due to go off. I sigh and lean back in bed, contemplating how my first day back at school is going to be.

School's already been back for about four weeks and I would have been there if it weren't for my last two missions that spread themselves across the holidays and soaked up most of week one. Rest & Recovery time bit into the next couple of weeks, leaving me itching to get back to something close to normality.  
I think about my friends and… no wait, I think about my FRIEND. Tom. He's probably the only one of my friends that is still my friend and most likely the only one in school who will actually talk to me. I groan, thinking about how bleak my school and social life is, and how it's all MI6's fault, while taking another look at the clock. 6:29am. I decide to stuff waiting for it to go off and I start searching my room for my school uniform. Where did I last see it?

A couple of hours later I rush downstairs, realising that I'm late because I had trouble finding my school uniform (or at least school uniform that fitted me) and trouble uncovering my schoolbag from the back of the wardrobe. I grab some money for recess and lunch, deciding to skip breakfast and hopefully make it to school on time.  
I rush outside, into the heat of the morning, and I grab my bike and hop on. From there, I ride off towards my school as fast as possible.  
I burst into the deserted school grounds, literally ride my bike into the bike racks and leap off my bike and lock it in one quick movement. Then I run off towards the science block. My first class back, and already I'm really blending into the crowd.

As I reach the new science labs, I slow down. I intend to sneak into the lab quietly, but it seems that fate hates me more than usual today, and just as is approach, Michael Cook storms out of the door.  
Michael grins evilly, and he shouts out to Verion, "HEY! Miss, I found Rider!"  
I swear under my breath as Verion yells her head off in her stupid French accent, and walk in like I'm condemned to death. Which, if you knew Verion, isn't much of an exaggeration.

I walk in, ready for anything, only to be send back out to see the Principal to explain why I'm late. As I'm walking towards Mr Bray's office I hear the sound of the chaos that happens daily in that lab, and feel an glowing hatred for Verion. As she was making my catch up in science impossible.  
There is a lull in the noise, and I wonder if perhaps she's improved a little over the holidays.

WW3 erupts behind me. Obviously not.

As I approach Mr Bray's office, my mind becomes less focused on why I'm going here and more on my Dr Grief clone, who had drawn me to the room only a few months ago and nearly killed me. I stand outside the office and immediately notice the change in the name sign on the door. Instead of Mr Henry Bray, it says Mr Ben Daniels. I stare at the sign with a bad feeling, thinking of Fox from the K-unit, whose real name happens to be Ben Daniels.  
I shake my head, mocking myself for even imagining that the SAS man could be the new principal. But I can't get rid of that bad feeling in my stomach. I hold my breath and walk in. Even though I've reassured myself, I still feel edgy.

Inside the office, I stare at the man in the chair, while resisting the temptation to storm out of school and go to MI6 HQ and give them a mouthful.  
How dare they. How dare they send someone like him to my school. HOW DARE THEY!  
I am drawn from my raging thoughts, by Ben who is talking to me smugly. "So, Alex. Why have you been sent to me?" he says this in a evil way. Like he is enjoying this.  
I don't trust myself to speak and Ben says "Cat got your tongue Rider?" so I say as politely as possible, given my current closeness to meltdown, "I was two minutes late for my science class with Ms Verion."

Ben blinks at the venom and hatred in my voice when I say 'Verion' but says nothing. Perhaps he understands how frustrating it is for me to actually make it into school and then learn nothing. I continue, "and then I got sent here 'cause she was in a bad mood. Her usual setting." I wait for him to enlighten me.  
"Well Rider, I haven't been here for that long" I store that piece of info in my brain "but I have learnt that lateness kills. So I'm going to give you a weeks worth of after school detentions so we can get to know each other."

I catch the underlying message that he wants to talk to me, so I take the detention slip he fills out for me and storm out of the office without dismissal, joining the stream of students heading off to second period. I look at my timetable in my diary and change my direction and head to the gym because I have sports. My head is buzzing.  
While I'm trudging to the bathroom, wrapped in the hopelessness of my situation, I don't see Michael Cook's foot trip me up. And I don't register what's happened until I'm already on the ground. I curse my inattentiveness, and take the hand that appears near my head 10 seconds after I fell. It's Tom's. We walk to the bathrooms and changed then went into the gym, and I nearly trip over my feet (I was caught by Tom, great friend he is…) at the sight in front of me.

It's Wolf, dressed as a gym instructor, yelling at some people who were chewing gum in the gym. After I get over my shock at seeing him here, I start laughing at the poor kids that have been caught, the looks on their faces are priceless. Wolf seems to notice that I'm laughing my head off at them, and comes over to me and yells "DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM!!". I look up and he looks like I'm the worst thing he's ever seen since coming here. I quickly reply with a "No Sir" and we all get to do the 3 km walk around the school. If we're too slow, we have to run it twice. Good incentive to focus.

In the jog, I left Tom behind in my haste to put as much distance between myself and Wolf. In fact I put so much distance between us that I was the first to arrive back.  
Every one else arrives about 15 minutes later and then Wolf teaches us how to fight, learning dome basic punches and blocks. I tone everything I do down to avoid making anymore of a scene today.

________________________________________

By the end of the day, I am fully ready to kill the heads of MI6 for making my school-boy life misery with the K-unit. And according to Tom (I told Tom about the SAS school teachers Ben and Wolf) Snake is his Science teacher and Eagle is our homeroom and Human(2) teacher. This piece of knowledge makes me glad that I missed homeroom today.  
So when the bell rings, I tell Tom "See you later!" and ride over to the Royal and General bank to give the heads of MI6 a headache. As I walk in, I run into the one and only, Tulip Jones.  
"Ah, Alex. We were just about to send for you, but you seemed to have beaten us to that! So come along to Alan Blunt's office." She says, gauging my expression with her black eyes.

So I follow her to the 16th floor and into Blunt's office. The office is calm and quiet, but as soon as the door is shut (maybe even slightly before) I started yelling "HOW COULD YOU SEND THOSE PEOPLE TO TEACH AT MY SCHOOL!!" Mrs Jones winces at how loud my voice is "WHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING AS STUPID AS THAT?! WHY?! DO YOU THINK THAT MAKING MY LIFE LIVING HELL IS ENJOYABLE?!"  
I pause for a breath and before I can continue, Blunt buts in and says "SCORPIA" in his monotone voice. My eyes widen in shock, and I say kind of calmly, "But why them? And didn't you make a deal with SCORPIA?". As I say, I am surprised at how level my voice is.  
This time it’s Mrs Jones who replies "We sent the K-unit in because they are the only people who have worked with you and as for SCORPIA, I believe that they have decided to rid themselves of some of the embarrassment that you have caused them by targeting you and your school."  
I swear, and turn to leave. As I'm opening the door, Blunt says "attend those after school detentions if you want to remain with Miss Starbright". I sigh and take my leave of that dreaded office.

First day back at school, always one for the happy memories.


	3. Chapter 3

I roll out of bed and slam the off-button on my alarm, silencing the annoying beeping noise. I get changed quickly, then I stumble downstairs and help myself to some toast and a glass of milk. I pack my bag and tell Jack that I won't be back till late because of the detentions and get on my bike. 

I look at my watch and see that I don't have to rush to school today. Which is nice. I start riding at a leisurely pace, contemplating the detentions. Meeting up with K-unit again isn't a prospect I am looking forward to. They're bound to interrogate me about what I have done for MI6. Which isn't so nice. 

With a sigh, I arrive at Brooklands and go to lock my bike. I stand by my bike, and look at my timetable. I have Maths first after homeroom. 

"Fudge Monkeys!" I suddenly swear and bash my diary against my head a few times, remembering that I have Eagle as my homeroom teacher, and therefore, my Humanities teacher. I look at my diary and discover that my day, except for the Maths, is filled with K-unit and Verion. Shudder. I groan and bash my head against my diary again, thinking that life hates me. It doesn't improve my impression of the world so I trudge off to homeroom. 

When I'm outside my homeroom, I realise that (minus Ben) I don't know K-unit's names! I glance into my homeroom and see that Eagle isn't watching the door. So I sneak in behind a few of the other kids and quietly take my seat next to Tom. 

"Hey Tom, how are you?" I ask, as if I haven't just snuck into class to avoid the teacher noticing me. 

He grins at me and replies "I'm good, but I didn't think that you'd be here. Oh and by the way, his name is Mr Luke Marel, our Sports teacher's Mr James san Luca and my Science teacher is Mr Jacob Nyen.." I laugh and thank Tom for giving me the information I was missing. He's doing more spying than me nowadays. 

Before Tom or I can say any more, Mr Marel (I wonder if that's his real name… probably not…) starts reading the daily bulletin. It announces that we have an assembly during last period (which is Sports, which means no Wolf - wait I mean no Mr Luca - Yay!) and we're going to see a performance. We don't know what of. Then he marks the roll. 

During the roll, I'm visiting Planet Alex, thinking about SCORPIA. Honestly, I can't say I'm all that surprised. I mean they knew I was alive during Snakehead and I guess they see killing me as a way of redeeming themselves for their failures. 

"Alex, is Alex here?" 

I jerk my head up and look Eagle in the eye directly. He pauses for a small second and then repeats, "Is Alex Rider here?" so I say, "Yes Mr Marel". 

He seems surprised for another small second but then goes on to call "Jaymie?"

When the bell goes, I tell Tom that I'll meet up with him outside Maths and tell him to take extra care to be the last person to leave. But as I suspected, Eagle wants to talk to me. He walks over to where I'm packing my maths and science gear into my bag. 

"CUB!! Long time no see, hey?!" 

I'm slightly surprised, because this isn't the same Eagle I remember from Breacons Beacons, but still reply "I'm good" and add in my head, although my day's already been ruined by seeing you as my homeroom teacher. Eagle smiles and I realise that at Breacons Beacons, Eagle was probably out of character, serious, but that his current personality is very hyperactive and childish. Thinking he'd probably make me late for my Maths lesson, I give him a quick "Bye" and leave ASAP for Maths. 

The second bell goes as I walk into the Maths room and take my respective position at the back right handside of the room next to Tom. We do some work, finish it quickly, and then waste the rest of the lesson perfecting our O's and X's gaming tactics. 

The bell for second period goes, interrupting my winning game of O's and X's, and Tom and I walk to the science labs. As we go, we talk barely above a whisper and I tell him about the SCORPIA threat. And we also think of ways to get Verion fired. Tom has the idea of framing her with SCORPIA (which I must admit, is a great idea as it deals with both problems at once). 

When we arrive at the Science labs, Tom's freakishly-early class has already gone in so he swears and rushes in after them. I walk up to my class's lab and deposit my bag on the bench outside (even though there are some perfectly good bag racks in the lab, Verion says we can't use them. This is a source of many arguments with her) and grab my Science stuff out. I wait outside the lab with the few people who are on time. I may have considered taking a detour round the corridors while I'm waiting, but being on time has been pounded into my brain and my brain has no will to fight back right now. We wait until the whole class is here. 

Inside, Verion tries to teach us… well I'm not sure what she's trying to teach us, so I walk out of class and grab some stuff for my other subjects, walk back in, and work on that for my Science period. She doesn't seem to notice. 

At the end of the period I manage to escape the recess detention by sneaking out the back door with two other people, and meet Tom who is waiting for me outside the front door of the lab. 

"Hey, did you have to escape again?"  
I glare at him and say "thank you Captain Obvious!" 

Tom grins and says "so, did you learn something? When I say 'something', I mean did you learn something to do with Science, or what not to do?" 

I laugh and say in a thoughtful voice "well I did learn one thing. Which is: if MI6 send me to France I'm refusing immediately, and not even Holidays and sickness can get you a pardon from the evil Verion." Now it's Tom's turn to laugh. 

We go to our table and eat and talk and actually attempt normality! Well nearly normality. We're talking about SCORPIA, MI6 and the SAS men here. That subject lasts us until we are three quarters through recess and we then decide to go on a road trip around the school. 

We wander into an empty corridor, near our homeroom where we have our next two periods. We turn a corner into a dead end and turn around. Before we can leave, Michael Cook and his gang come around the corner, trapping us. 

I glance at Tom. He looks confused, obviously wondering what Michael's doing here. I, on the other hand, am not that naïve. I know he's here to have a go at me. I look Michael in the eye as he stops 2 feet from me. 

"Well, well, well. The Druggie has graced us with his presence" he says with a cruel sneer in his voice and on his face. His cronies start laughing, but stop at a quick hand sign from Michael. 

I raise my eyebrows at this and say, sounding amazed and sarcastic, "wow! Hand signs! I thought you were too simple for something that complicated, you guys deserve an award for that. Don't you agree Tom?" 

I turn to Tom as he says, "Yeah you're right Alex, next thing you know, Verion will be able to teach!" 

We both laugh, and Michael, realising that he is being insulted, frowns and signals to his gang to attack. Upon the hand signal Tom and I say together, "Clap clap for the retarded!" Then I block Michael and twist his arm behind his back, while Tom pokes his opponent in the gut, jumping out of reach to prepare for his next attack. 

Then I saw Eagle ( I have to get into habit of calling him Mr Marel) and Ben walk around the corner, no doubt discussing Eagle's, no wait, Mr Marel's next lessons. Ben immediately yells out "STOP!" in a voice kinda like Wolf's (oops, I mean Mr San Luca) and everyone stops what they're doing. 

"Alright, you" Ben points to Michael's gang "meet me in my office, and you" this time he points at Tom, Michael and me "go with E- Mr Marel." 

I smirk slightly, picking up on Bens little slip up, and follow Eagle to our room. There Eagle sits us down together, I think he wants to torture me, and we wait for the rest of the class. 

By the time the bell goes, I'm ready to murder Eagle. But I must admit, grudgingly though, Eagle does know how to handle a rowdy group of yr 9's for two periods. At the assembly, we file into the gym and sit down at our allocated spot. Ben walks up onto the stage and quietens the school and begins. 

"Hello students. Now, most of you won't know me, so I shall introduce myself and all of the new teachers." He pauses for breath and continues "I am Ben Daniels, and I am replacing Mr Bray while he's on service leave." 

I zone out, having a pretty good idea of who the new teachers are. I wonder where Mr Bray and all the other teachers K-unit are replacing are… Hmmm cutting Verion in half with a chainsaw, cutting her head open and mushing her brains sounds quite enjoyable…

Then the performance starts. It's just a group of people dancing. 

I wonder where all the time went, because all too soon we're back in homeroom getting ready to go home. I sit there and let Tom's brainless talk wash over me, and contemplate my afternoon. 

"Alex? Alex?? Hey Alex!" Tom yells into my ear, bringing me back to the now, "I have a great idea, y'know how you told me how K-unit bullied you at the SAS camp?" 

I nod, so he continues "Well I was thinking that you could exact revenge on them by being a total pain in the arse."

Hmm not a bad idea… "That's brilliant Tom!" (Tom grins at this) "but what should I do?" 

We both have a think and then the bell goes. Tom and I wait until we are the last ones in the room except for Eagle. Tom and I continue talking, then Eagle comes over and says "Umm, Mr Harris?" - we both hide smirks at that, no one calls Tom 'Mr Harris' -"It's time for you to go."

"Oh, ok Eagle" he says and the runs out of the room leaving me and Eagle in shock. I had no idea that he would to that, and then ditch me! This calls for revenge. Tomorrow he shall pay. But not now, I have bigger things on my hands.

"You told him about who we are?!" whispers Eagle in a hushed, nearly angry, tone. 

I look at him and say "Yeah, why? Is that a problem?" 

Eagle just looks at me and changes the topic. "So, little Cub." I nearly double take at the 'little Cub' part. "What have you done to deserve protection from people as important as us?" 

I smirk and say "you're important?" 

Eagle glares at me and says "yes we are Cub, and we are here to protect YOU from some unknown enemy." 

I'm shocked that they don't know who they're protecting me from and say "you don't know that you're protecting me from SCORPIA?" 

Stupid! Stupid! I tell myself. Eagle looks like the world has ended, which I think is an over-exaggeration. 

"SCORPIA?" he says weakly and I nod.

"Alright" he says, sounding in control "come and explain this to us, all of us in Bens office." And he drags me off. 

In Bens office, Eagle tells them what he knows, and they all look at me, wanting an explanation. I sigh, and say "Ben, you can tell part of the story" and there I realise my mistake. Ben catches on quickly and says "they already know the second half of the story, but none of us know the first part." I sigh again, man I seem to be sighing a lot. 

"Well, if you really want to know…" I trail off. They look at me expectantly, and Wolf adds in "we will get your file anyway, but we want to hear the story from you." 

"I have a file?" I ask feeling surprised. 

"Of course. Didn't you know that?" says Ben. I shake my head and begin to tell my story. Of course I don't tell them the whole story, like how I went to SCORPIA on my own because Yassen Gregorovich told me to, or how I was trained as an assassin, or how I was sent to kill Mrs Jones and nearly succeeded and I don't tell them that I had the nano shells inside of me. Nor of the COBRA meeting nor of my bullet wound. I don't want them worrying. Even though I know they will probably find out when they read my file, I can always hope that MI6 have put super high security clearance on those parts. 

At the end of my story, Snake speaks for the first time. "And you've never been hurt, had a physical checkup or a mental checkup?" I shake my head confused. I feel even more confused as Snake retreats into an angry silence. Ben notices Snakes mood, and speaks to me. "Alex, there's someone waiting for you in the front office." 

I take my leave, leaving my bag there, in Ben's office. 

In the front office, I see the one and only Smithers. A smile spreads on my face, upon seeing the jolly MI6 man.

"Ah Alex, old bean, how are you?" he says in a very jovial voice. 

"I'm great, well almost great 'cause I have SCORPIA's threat to deal with" I reply lightly. 

Smithers sighs and says "well that's why I'm here. I've got some gadgets for you." 

He reaches into his shoulder bag and pulls out a packet of brightly coloured rubbers. "Now Alex, m'boy, these are no ordinary rubbers. In fact they are explosives. When you break them open or stab them, 10 seconds they explode. These rubbers won't cause an ordinary explosion, they are a type of vacuum bomb. Now, the recipe for these little explosives are shared between the CIA and us, MI6. So this is really a field test for them."

He finishes his explanation of the rubber and I take them and put them on my lap. He reaches into his shoulder bag again, and this time he pulls out a 98 paged binder book and a pen. He puts these in front of me and begins to explain, "And these, dear Alex, are your way of communicating with us and vice-versa. You open the book to the middle and write on the middle pages SCORPIA and then you will be able to communicate with us by writing down observations. They will then be faxed to Blunt's office, then will be erased from your book. We can also send you messages, but once you read them press the top part of the 8 to erase them. But remember to use this pen, because the book is activated by the password SCORPIA and the ink in the pen." 

He finishes explaining the book and pen, so I put them on my lap with the packet of brightly coloured rubbers. 

"And, last of all, here" he passes me a hard back copy of Brisingr. I look at it and say "I don't think I've read this series." 

Smithers laughs and says "Old bean, this book is similar to your special Harry Potter book, but his time it has 3 darts and also holds a small shot gun if you find yourself in the situation where you need one." 

Surprised I ask "Blunt's letting me have a gun?" 

"Yes, yes Alex old bean, he has decided that you should have a gun because SCORPIA are very dangerous and even though you have K-unit with you, it still isn't safe for you to be without a gun." 

I nod numbly and say thank you to Smithers, who as usual waves it off. "Good bye Alex old bean, and please survive!" BREAK  
I nod again and go to get my bag. 

I walk into Ben's office and find it empty. I get my bag and find a note beside it. It says:

"Cub,  
go hom'e, but tomorrow go straight to Wolfs office after school tomorrow.  
K-unit.

I grab my bag and go out to my bike. I get my i-pod out and, while riding, I listen to 'That Green Gentleman', I need cheering up.  
\---------  
A truck pulled up in the school car park, with a delivery for Brooklands School. 

A man got out of the truck and walked over to the night guard.

"I'm here to deliver a box of erasers for the school" said the man from the truck, sounding bored. 

"I'll need ID before you can deliver Mister" replied the night guard, definitely more bored than the driver. 

The truck driver responded by pulling a handgun from one of his pockets. The gun was complete with a silencer. The night guard's eyes flew wide open as the driver fired. Fear was forever etched into his face by death. 

The driver took out a box and a stamp. He walked into the school and put the box amongst all the supplies. Before he turned to leave, he stamped the box with the stamp and shone light on it. It was a silver scorpion. Then the driver left the school.

He cleaned up the mess from the guard, and placed his body in the back of the truck for disposal. He got in the driver's seat and made a phone call. 

"My task is complete" he said into the receiver. "...Ok. Friday, during the assembly at 9:40 am. Got it." He hung up the phone and picked up a sophisticated looking calculator and fiddled with it. Then he put it down and drove off to dispose of the body. 

He was eager for Friday to come soon. Because then Alex Rider would pay.


End file.
